Lake Bridges Project

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2015) – Governor Steve Beshear today
announced the award of a contract to build a new bridge over
Lake Barkley – the second of the much-anticipated twin Lake
Bridges in the tourism-rich Jackson Purchase of western
Kentucky.

The $128.3 million project, awarded by the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to PCL Civil Construction, of
Denver, will result in a modern, four-lane bridge to carry U.S.
68/KY 80 over Lake Barkley and serve as the eastern entrance to
Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area.

"Replacement of the bridges over Kentucky Lake and Lake
Barkley has been a priority of my administration, and it’s a
great pleasure to see the awarding of the culminating contract,"
Gov. Beshear said. "The importance of these bridges to the
tourism industry of Western Kentucky cannot be overstated."

The new bridge will replace the venerable but narrow and
obsolete Henry Lawrence Memorial Bridge at Canton, which was
built in 1932 and long ago ceased to meet modern design
standards. The bridge, at U.S. 68 mile point 8.56 in Trigg
County, has two lanes, each 10 feet wide, with no shoulders. The
new bridge, which features a basket handle arch design, will
have four travel lanes, each 11 feet wide, plus 4-foot shoulders
and a 10-foot pedestrian/bicycle path.

The larger Lake Bridges Project also includes replacement of
the Eggners Ferry Bridge on Kentucky Lake – a near twin of the
Henry Lawrence Memorial. Construction of the new Kentucky Lake
bridge is already underway.

In the Lake Barkley area, the project will widen
approximately 1.5 miles of U.S. 68/KY 80 from two lanes to four
lanes from just west of Lake Barkley to just east of the lake.
In the Kentucky Lake region, approximately two miles of U.S.
68/KY 80 is being widened from two lanes to four lanes from
Aurora, in Marshall County on the western shore, to just east of
Kentucky Lake, where the project will connect to the four-lane
roadway that runs through Land Between The Lakes.

The Kentucky Lake project has two parts. Jim Smith
Contracting, of Grand Rivers, was awarded a contract in 2014 to
construct causeways and also a new bridge over a lagoon on the
west side of Kentucky Lake, just north of U.S. 68/KY 80 and
adjacent to the Kenlake State Resort Park campground. The lagoon
bridge forms an approach to the main lake bridge.

Construction of the main bridge itself is being carried out
under a separate contract awarded to Johnson Brothers Corp., of
Fort Worth, Texas.

Once completed, the Lake Bridges Project will provide a
continuous, four-lane route from Aurora to Cadiz, crossing both
lakes and Land Between The Lakes. It will eventually be part of
a four-lane corridor from Mayfield to Bowling Green.

The new Lake Barkley bridge is expected to be open to traffic
by October 2017. The new Kentucky Lake bridge, for which ground
was broken last fall, is expected to be ready for traffic in
December 2015, with completion in 2016.

Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, and Land Between The Lakes offer a unique vacation experience for everyone! Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley collectively is the largest body of water between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Here you can enjoy fishing, boating, hunting, eating at great restaurants, and experiencing the numerous attractions of the Land Between The Lakes. The region is located just eight hours from Chicago, three hours from St. Louis and six hours west of the
Smoky Mountains.

Bullfrog

Photo by Ray Stainfield

No camping excursion is complete with a serenade from the resident bullfrog. There are a vast variety of amphibians to be found throughout the Land Between The Lakes Area.